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After declaring war on failing eyesight when they swept to power a decade ago, the Ontario Liberals are in retreat, cutting cataract surgery just as a grey wave of seniors reaches provincial hospitals.

Wait times have grown at hospitals such as St. Joseph’s in London and will continue to rise under the strain of seniors, who are more prone to developing a cloudy lens in their eyes that obscures vision — cataracts.

Already, in big-city Ontario, some wait times are flirting with, or shooting past, provincial targets.

Such a dire outcome was predicted by the Eye Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario after the cuts: “These cuts will turn back the clock on all of the progress made on wait times and will have dire consequences for patients requiring cataract surgery; these patients are most often seniors,” wrote ophthalmologist Tim Hillson, who chairs the group.

Those predictions are beginning to come to life, Hillson said Tuesday.

“It’s kind of a perfect storm. We have an increase in demand because of demographics and people want to get it earlier because they know friends who have had it and had good experiences,” he said.

Across Ontario, wait times for cataract surgery already range on the high side in major cities, with patients in Toronto waiting 58 to 183 days, while those in London wait nearly 200 days and in Ottawa 133 to 181 days.

In Hamilton, it ranges from 218 days to 294.

Among the shortest lineups are in Cornwall and Stratford, where patients wait 29 and 55 days. In Sarnia, it’s 78 days.

The province sets as a target wait for the surgery 182 days for 90% of patients.

Cataract surgery had been a medical beachhead for the Liberals who took power in 2003.

The Grits promised to tame waiting lists by focusing first on cataracts, cancer surgery, heart procedures, hip and knee replacements and MRI and CT scans.

A spokesperson for Ontario Health Minister Deb Matthews didn’t directly address questions about cuts in funding, instead focusing on improvements made since 2003.

“When our government took office, Ontario had the worst wait times in Canada. Since then we have funded over three million additional procedures, contributing to the lowest wait times in the country,” spokesperson Samantha Grant wrote.

“In London, we’ve made tremendous progress on wait times for cataract surgeries — which are 60% lower than they were in 2005, or nearly 300 days less,” she added.